Lightning bolts can strike up to 10 kilometers in front or behind
a thunderstorm cell.

A "bolt from the blue
sky" is a real entity and is responsible for many strikes on people per year.
Thunder travels at the speed of sound. A lightning flash travels at the speed of
light. Speed of light is approximately 186,000 miles per second.

•
Ball lightning - Very rare, where there is a cluster or ball of lightning. This
is rarely seen.

Lightning does not usually enter the body, but flashes over the
exterior. Some charges may leak into the body via the eyes, ears or mouth.

Burns are usually
superficial, and usually caused by the heating up of objects close to the skin,
belt buckles, bracelets, and rings. It is not uncommon to not have severe burns.

Clothing can be blasted from the body.

THERE IS NO RESIDUAL CHARGE IN THE BODY AFTER A STRIKE. IT IS
OKAY TO TOUCH THE VICTIM. BELIEVING OTHERWISE IS A MYTH.

Minor injuries associated with lightning strikes:

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Confusion.

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Temporary blindness.

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Temporary deafness.

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Amnesia.

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Numbness in the extremities.

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Rupture of the eardrum.

These victims usually
recover with no serious problems.

Moderate injuries associated with lightning strikes:

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Combative.

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Disorientation.

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Possibly some paralysis.

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Loss of consciousness.

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Coma.

Victims usually
recover; however they have some significant side-effects afterwards.

Severe injuries associated with lightning strikes:

•
Cardiopulmonary arrest.

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Direct brain damage.

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Blunt trauma to the brain.

•
Blunt trauma to internal organs.

Prognosis is poor.

•
Cardiopulmonary arrest can be a primary event and CPR needs to be started within
a few seconds. However with animal studies, it has been shown that respiratory
paralysis lasts longer, leading to secondary hypoxic cardiac arrest, which means
the heart stops due to not enough oxygen to the body.

•
Neurological injuries: These can vary. There are invariably fatal. Blood
pressure instability is very common and can last for several days.

•
Burns: Usually superficial; however deep burns are an indication of electrical
passage through the body and carry a very poor prognosis. Burns also occur
around metal objects that are on the body and feathering burns are not really
burns at all. They are due to the intense shower of electrons across the skin
from the lightning strike.

Other injuries that can occur after a lightning strike include:

•
Cataracts which can develop very rapidly, within days to weeks, or show up years
later.

•
Eardrum rupture is also very common.

Treatment of the lightning strike victim:

Lightning does strike twice in the same place. So remove the
victim as soon as possible.

CPR should be started
immediately if the criteria are met.

Transport the victim as soon as possible to an emergency
department.

If multiple victims
are down, reverse triage is important. People that are able to talk, move or
otherwise show significant signs of life will likely survive. Do not approach
those victims first. Victims that are down that are in obvious need of CPR
should be tended to first. Patients obviously in cardiac arrest get transported
first. Use appropriate spinal precautions.

Some basics about how NOT to get hit by lightning:

1.Don't be the tallest object in the
area.

2.Stay off ridgelines and mountaintops.

3.Don't be next to the tallest object
in the area.

4.Remember that a storm approximately
10 miles away can reach out and touch you.

5.If you are in the mountains, shelter
in a grove of trees staying low, or in a region of rolling hills and staying low
are also an options.

6.If in a group, please spread out so
that a single strike will not affect all of you.

7.Shelter in a metal vehicle is
relatively safe.

8.On a golf course, you clearly more
safe in a cart than under a tree.

12.If caught out in a completely open
area, laying flat is not a good idea. Crouching down with feet together is as
good a posture as any, as well as hands over your ears. However this is a very
hard position to sustain.